SYDNEY: The end of a complex court case on the other side of the world could wreak havoc on a campaign in Europe against a proposed trade deal between the EU and the United States.
An international arbitration tribunal in December 2015 wound up a four-year dispute between the Australian government and tobacco company Philip Morris by announcing it was unable to rule on the matter — effectively siding with Australia’s position in the dispute.
The end of a complex court case on the other side of the world could wreak havoc on a campaign in Europe against a proposed trade deal between the EU and the United States.
An international arbitration tribunal in December 2015 wound up a four-year dispute between the Australian government and tobacco company Philip Morris by announcing it was unable to rule on the matter — effectively siding with Australia’s position in the dispute.
The case has resonated in Europe, where for some time opponents of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have used the legal challenge as a cautionary tale against signing investment deals.
Philip Morris used an obscure investment agreement which Australia signed with Hong Kong in 1993 in an attempt to scuttle Australia’s “plain packaging” tobacco legislation, which has removed all branding from cigarette packets sold in the country.
But Australia’s ability to fend off the legal challenge could undermine the argument that legal provisions contained in international investment agreements leave legitimate legislative reform vulnerable to big corporations.
“It will be back to the drawing board for anti-TTIP campaigners,” said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Center for International Political Economy, adding that the parallels between Australia’s deal with Hong Kong and TTIP had always been overstated.
“Philip Morris was only able to sue Australia because of a technicality,” Lee-Makiyama said. “In free-trade agreements you always include an exception for public health, which Australia forgot to do. This entire case was the result of a drafting error by Australian negotiators.”
However, anti-tobacco campaigners in Brussels say the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore does nothing for TTIP’s credibility.
“The arbitration court declined to hear the case on the grounds that it was not competent, as Philip Morris had shifted its commercial identity during the course of the case,” said Catherine Hartmann, vice president of the European Public Health Alliance.
“There is nothing in the outcomes of the arbitration attempt that validates or questions plain packaging in Australia or anywhere else,” Hartmann said.
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